Though born in Rochester, Minnesota, John Chumley spent his early years in the Knoxville, Tennessee area where he developed passions for football and art. A knee injury ended a football career begun at the University of Kentucky and Chumley went on to post-graduate work at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art where he focused on realistic rural scenes. After more studies and travel, he and his wife settled in Virginias Shenandoah Valley which became the scene of his most celebrated works. His preferred medium was egg tempera which, while a painstaking and unforgiving medium in general, allowed him to express...

Designed by architect Henry Howard, this Iberville Parish plantation was completed in 1857, but, having been allowed to fall into disrepair throughout the 20th century, now lay mouldering and forgotten. Photographer Clarence John Laughlin, whose images of great houses abandoned over time echoes those of Kelly, wrote of Belle Grove: "When completed, its tremendous mass rose on huge brick foundation arches over twelve feet above the surrounding earth, its walls and mantels were plastered and carved by the most expert European craftsmen money could secure, its great flight of brick steps was covered with imported marble, its door knobs and...